Gavin’s gubernatorial throwdown to Antonio on L.A. turf

Our buddy Rick Orlov at the L.A. Daily News says the throwdown is on between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, both expected to run for the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor. That’s because Newsom is holding a March 19 “Los Angeles Area Conversation About California’s Future” … in Villaraigosa’s backyard.

Orlov says the message of Gavin’s invitation to the Santa Monica event, now going out to L.A. area Dems, is: “If you live in Los Angeles and want to gripe about the government, there’s a mayor who wants to hear from you” — except he’s from the city by the bay.

The Santa Monica event comes a few days after Newsom, who’s going up and down the state doing town hall meetings, will pointedly deliver another public conversation with voters on March 10 in Oakland — that’s Jerry Brown’s turf.

The former Democratic two-term governor, of course, was mayor there before becoming state attorney general, and he’s also expected to run for governor in 2010.